The Process of a First-Time Writer

As soon as I put up my first article here on Vocal, my feed was filled with “how to be a writer,” “freelance writing jobs,” and “monetize your writing,” suggested reads. I read through the ones that seemed like they contained real information versus just a click-baity title. Side note: If I start writing clicky-baity titles and the content doesn’t live up to it, please reach out. It could be a coded message for help. I want to write pieces with substance and that are informative or convey a point. That’s fantastic, right?! Now I know what I want! So what are the steps I’m taking to get there?

I am not going to say this particular piece is a “how to.” I feel that would be false advertising. This isn’t a tried and true method on my part. This is just to describe my journey thus far. I am 7 stories into this endeavor and it's much too early to tell if it’s “successful.” Not only is it too small of a sample size, it's that I haven’t defined what “success” in this aspect would look like. Goal-setting is an important piece of the process. Having milestones not only provides you with some direction and motivation, it can also be a time to pause and celebrate when you meet them.

Prior to publishing on Vocal, I had already been researching ideas surrounding entrepenurialship, small business and digital marketing. This led to the cookies and algorithms picking up on those interests and feeding me more of it. In turn, this pointed me to some of the motivational speakers and business advice individuals that I currently turn to when I’m feeling like I need a push. When I need motivation to get up and DO THE THING, I check out Gary Vee’s Instagram as well as his publications. When I need specific information on streaming, I look to Ashni Christ’s YouTube channel or try to catch her live on Twitch.

Read. I’ve honestly been doing more reading since I’ve started writing. 100% I clicked those articles that were being put in front of me via Google Cards. I am the type of person who needs to inundate myself with knowledge before I even jump into a new project or hobby. It took 5 people talking about their experiences and pre-reading scuba diving manuals before I agreed to take the classes and get my certification. Similarly, when I started streaming on Twitch, I read so much about digital marketing, copyright, 3rd party programs to use and even how to min-max your time--all before I went live for the first time. Fast forward 5 years and I’m still doing that level of pre-investigation before diving into time-consuming projects. While it seems counter-intuitive to spend time on something that is probably time-consuming, I want to go into these types of situations with tools and knowledge on how to play the game before I start playing it. Or, perhaps more importantly, to know if I even want to play that game at all.

One of the things I was happy to see in one of those articles was that you SHOULD keep reading. Knowing the current state of your topics is important to being a credible source of information to keep readers coming back to YOU and YOUR content, rather than randomly, passively, finding semi-related, disjointed material. Once you find your audience, you need to keep up to date with the topics to be informative, so reading is key!

Review. This was not something that I read anywhere. I would have to say that this is the process I’m developing on my own and putting a bit of time into that can hopefully assist me in the future. On my Facebook page, I share interesting articles related to yarn, crochet and other fiber arts. Combing through all that I’ve shared over the past 4 years, I’ve compiled a document of all the links that I’ve shared. I plan to re-visit those in context with each other, research those techniques (perhaps even attempt some!), delve deeper and create connections between them. I am actively and purposefully keeping track of the things that give me inspiration. This level of prepping isn’t something that I told myself I HAD to do. All of this interests me and this is what I want to do. I’m looking forward to seeing how something I shared in 2018 has evolved and is directly related to other advances in 2021. While yarn, knitting, weaving and crocheting may seem like areas in which everything has already been done, I still am surprised by things like yarn that generates heat from sunlight and attempts at replacing fiberglass with wool. I feel that if these are products and developments are surprising and interesting to me, they probably are to others, too! In taking inspiration from these bits of news that previously caught my attention, I intend to go deeper than the two sentences in my Facebook posts and provide context. In a way, I am excited, and I hope to find some really cool connections.

As mentioned in the beginning, this is NOT a how-to. This is a sharing of my writing journey and process. It is very nebulous and none of it is from formal instruction. I intend to continue reading those how to write articles. I might take some of those classes. I intend to continue consuming media from experts in their fields. And I absolutely intend on keeping track those quirky things that spark my interest to expand upon and share.

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